Nestled in a cascading, west facing ravine with a dramatic slab of rock defining the northern edge and a stunning outlook over the azure blue of the Andaman Sea to the south, our commission; to do this demanding but ultimately spectacular site justice, was both daunting and exciting.

The cultural center is located in the Dab district of Katowice in Poland – an area known for mines and industry. The concept of the building links two important aspects of the site. A green space connection is made from the northern end traditional Silesian street to the southern border. The edge between the building and green space is invisible. The roof in the plan of a ‘Z’ shape rises from the ground level to two floors. The sectional form is inspired by mines, as all of the programmatic utilities are located ‘underground’. The building at the street level is integrated to promote urban interaction.

The studio grew out of two small apartments that share the same concept of an open space with a fair and clear white color. The space has an axis with several areas of different functionality, which interconnect and seamlessly blend into one another. The sleeping area is partially separated from the living-room with its own couch.

The residential building in the 21st district of Vienna contains a total of 42 small apartments between 40 and 50m². Each has either a bright balcony or a private terrace. In the attic floor there are spacious apartments with associated large roof terraces.

While planning this building it was essential to reach an optimal exploitation of the officially permitted building volume. Common areas such as a spacious green courtyard including a modern children’s play area have loads of space available.

The lot is situated in Costa Esmeralda, a new private venture in Costa County. A small pine grove at the front of the site, and a steep slope down from the street to the back of the lot. A simple but paramount commission: to focus the program on the smallest portion of the lot as possible, since most of the natural landscape of the lot wants to be preserved. A vacation home thought for a family that wants to use the house for a variety of purposes, such as getting together and enjoying open air activities. The program is centered around two boxes stacked, skewed, balancing each other on top of a half buried stone plinth. As a result, the program takes less than twelve percent of the lot, leaving enough space for a swimming pool and a green dune –part of the landscape.

The original house was built 37 years ago with a mixed structure; steel on the ground floor and timber on the first floor. Since its original construction in 1977, the site around the house has dramatically changed. The two-story house is now surrounded by 7-9 story buildings in an area known as the “Urban Village“, which lies between Yamate-Dori and Megro River – a three minute walk from Fudomae Metro Station in Tokyo.